NEW DELHI, Oct 13 
The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, was sworn-in
Prime Minister for a third term today, a distinction he
shares with two of his predecessors, Jawaharlal Nehru and
Indira Gandhi.

Along with him, a
70-member National Democratic Alliance Ministry was
sworn-in comprising 26 Cabinet Ministers, seven Ministers
of State with Independent charge and 37 Ministers of
State.

The two-tier ministry of
Mr Vajpayee, but for the Telugu Desam Party, the Indian
National Lok Dal, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Himachal
Vikas Congress and some other smaller parties, has
representations from all major NDA constituents.

Mr Pramod Mahajan, who
was holding the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in
the previous Vajpayee government, has been shifted to the
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources.

Mr Jagmohan, the lone
elected member of Parliament from Delhi to find a berth
in the Cabinet, will look after Urban Development, Mr
Naveen Patnaik Mines and Minerals and Mr Juel Oram, a
Tribal from Orissa has been entrusted the Ministry of
Tribal Affairs.

Mr T R Balu has been
given Environment and Forests and Mr Ananth Kumar who was
holding Civil Aviation, will now have Culture, Youth
Affairs and Sports. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister
Manohar Joshi has been given the charge of Heavy
Industries and Public Enterprises.

Mr Arun Jaitley, who is
not a member of either House of Parliament, replaces Mr
Pramod Mahajan in the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting with Independent charge.

Ms Vasundhara Raje, who
has been assisting Mr Jaswant Singh in the Ministry of
External Affairs, will now look after Small Scale, Agro
and Rural Industries, in addition to this, Ms Raje will
be assisting the Prime Minister in the Ministry of
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and the
Departments of Atomic Energy and Space.

Mr Dilip Ray has been
given independent charge of Steel, hitherto held by Mr
Naveen Patnaik. Ms Maneka Gandhi continues with Social
Justice and Empowerment while Ms Uma Bharti will devote
her undivided attention to the promotion of Tourism.

Unallocated portfolios
will be looked after by the Prime Minister. Mr Dilip Ray
and Mr Santosh Gangwar will assist the Parliamentary
Affairs Minister in addition to their charges.

Mr Advani, who has been
single-handedly looking after the sensitive Home
Ministry, will be assisted by Vidya Sagar Rao and Mr I D
Swami, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha will have the
services of V Dhananjay Kumar and Mr Balasaheb Vikhe
Patil.

Mr Harin Pathak and Mr
Bachi Singh Rawat will be the two Ministers of State for
Defence.

Trinamool Congress
leader Ajit Panja will be the Minister of State for
External Affairs. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi will have Ms
Sumitra Mahajan and Jaisingh Rao Patil to assist him in
the Human Resource Development Ministry.

Floor Coordination in
both the Houses of Parliament has also been entrusted to
Mr Sriram Chauhan and Mr Faggan Singh Khulaste. Besides
Mr Dilip Ray and Mr Santosh Gangwar will assist Mr
Mahajan in managing the Parliamentary Affairs.

Mr Murasoli Maran will
have Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq
Abdullah's son Omar and Dr Raman in running the Commerce
and Industry Ministry.

The Railways will have
one Minister of State in Mr Digvijay Singh.

Defending the large size
of his Cabinet, the Prime Minister said he wanted to
accommodate all coalition constituents and treat them as
equals.

But for Union Ministers,
Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, Mr Sikander Bakht, Mr Surjit Singh
Barnala and Mr V. Ramamurthy (who lost the elections) Mr
Vajpayee has included all the prominent members of his
previous Cabinet.

The Ministers of State
with Independent charge include, Ms Maneka Gandhi, Mr
Dilip Ray, Ms Vasundhara Raje and Ms Uma Bharti. The new
faces include the BJP spokesman, Mr Arun Jaitley, Mr
Kannappan of the MDMK and Mr N.T.Shanmugam of the PMK.

MPs from Punjab has been
left out of the virtually "please all" Cabinet
unveiled by the Prime Minister, and neighbouring Himachal
Pradesh had one Cabinet Minister in former State Chief
Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, and Haryana, in the wake of
the Indian National Lok Dal opting out of the ministry,
found representation in giant killer, Mr I.D.Swami of the
BJP, who defeated former State Chief Minister and
Congress leader, Mr Bhajan Lal from Karnal.

Jammu and Kashmir had
two Ministers of State, Mr Omar Farooq, son of the state
Chief Minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah, and Prof Chaman Lal
Gupta of the BJP.

The BJP got the
lions share in the Council of Ministers with 14
members getting Cabinet rank, three members getting
independent charge as Ministers of State and 28 Ministers
of State.

The Janata Dal (United)
was the other NDA coalition which got a maximum of four
ministers with Cabinet rank, and two Ministers of State.
The DMK has two ministers with Cabinet rank and one
Minister of State, the Trinamool Congress one Cabinet and
one Minister of State, the Shiv Sena has two Cabinet rank
ministers and one with Minister of State rank. The Biju
Janata Dal secured one Cabinet rank and one Minister of
State. The MDMK, in the absence of Mr Vaiko, had one name
in the list of Ministers of State with independent charge
and one in the Minister of State list. The Pattali Makkal
Katchi had one Minister of State with independent charge
and one Minister of State. The National Conference and
the Manipur State Congress Party had a Minister of State
each.

Mr Jethmalani and Ms
Maneka Gandhi were the two independent candidates who
made it to the Council of Ministers.

Apart from Punjab, which
did not get representation in the Cabinet, Goa was the
surprise omission as the BJP had won both the Lok Sabha
seats at stake in the State. Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal
Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland were the other
states which do not find a place in the Union Cabinet.

Mr Vajpayee who has been
at the forefront in demanding 33 per cent reservation for
women in Parliament, accommodated a record eight women in
his Council of Ministers. Of them six were from BJP, one
from Trinamool Congress and one Independent.

Mr Vajpayees
decision to accommodate Mr Jagmohan as the lone MP
surprised many observers as there were speculations that
he would find it difficult to ignore other strong
contenders from the state. Former Chief Ministers, Mr
Madan Lal Khurana and Mr Sahib Singh Verma, apart from Mr
Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who defeated Congress strongman, Dr
Manmohan Singh failed to find a berth in the Cabinet.